DARREN Carter has thanked Sunderland for getting his career back on track.

The 20-year-old midfielder was last week recalled early by Birmingham City from his loan spell on Wearside and pitched straight into the white-hot atmosphere of a Midlands derby.

Carter starred in Birmingham's bad-tempered 2-1 victory at Villa Park on Sunday.

Black Cats' boss Mick McCarthy was hopeful he could persuade his Blues counterpart Steve Bruce to keep the midfielder at the Stadium of Light until the end of the season with a view to a permanent move.

But after ten games and one goal in an impressive spell on Wearside, Bruce recalled the youngster after his squad was hit by injuries and McCarthy has now resigned himself to losing the Solihull-born midfielder for good.

"I was surprised to get the call to come back," said Carter. "I think the manager is looking to try and freshen things up a bit and get people going again."

It was Carter's penalty kick against Norwich in their Division One play-off final in 2002 which secured Birmingham's place in the Premiership, and ensured hero status at St Andrews.

But Carter had since started only four times for the club and was forced to move to Sunderland in a bid to kick-start his career.

"There was a possibility of extending the loan to Sunderland until the end of the season and then, had that happened, I would have looked at things again," said Carter.

"That's football. If you're not involved, you have to consider your options.

"Sunderland was just what I needed. I've had two seasons now where I haven't been playing, so it was great to get some competitive first team games.

"It boosted my confidence no end and helped me get that match sharpness back."

McCarthy has challenged Michael Bridges to prove his fitness if he wants to win a place back in the side.

The fans' favourite was tipped for a recall to the starting line-up on Saturday against Cardiff after a run of poor form had seen Marcus Stewart go 12 games without a goal.

But McCarthy opted to bring back Chris Brown and Bridges had to be content with a place on the bench.

The 26-year-old has been hampered by series of niggling injuries since his return to Wearside from Bolton, which has limited him to only one start in ten.

Bridges was a doubt for the trip to Wales, with an Achilles injury, but recovered in time to make the flight to Bristol on Saturday.

McCarthy said: "Michael needs to be fit and training all week and when he does that he will have a much better chance of starting games.

"He knows what he has to do. I thought Michael did well when he came on against Cardiff. He had an impact, although I wouldn't go as far as to say that he changed the game."

Meanwhile, Kevin Kyle has suffered a setback in his recovery from a hip operation and won't play again until early next year.

McCarthy said: "Kevin's not close to coming back yet.

"The initial estimate was that he would be back around Christmas and we were all hoping that would be the case but it's not going to happen.

"He is still experiencing pain and it's something that is going to take longer than we had hoped to put right.

"He has had another scan to see if there is any problem with it but we won't get the results of that scan for a few days yet."

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